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The Anatomy of A Black Hole

Space is filled with many marvelous and mysterious objects besides stars and planets. One of the most mysterious objects in the cosmos is a black hole, but just what is it? A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so dense that not even light can escape. These regions are called black holes because they are invisible since no light is emitted. They are detected by their effects on stars and gas. Nothing can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole. There are different types of black holes and they also come in various sizes.

black holes formed at the beginning of the universe

Scientists believe that some black holes formed at the beginning of the universe. However, some form when a massive star collapses in on itself. Super massive black holes are thought to be at the core of large galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy. One part of a black hole is known as a singularity. It is basically what is left of the collapsed star. An event horizon is the boundary of a black hole. Once something passes the event horizon, it cannot escape. As matter is pulled into a black hole, it spins and creates a disk known as an accretion disk.

Black holes are sometimes spoken of in connection with white holes and wormholes. The theory pertaining to white holes is that they would be the reversal or opposite of a black hole. In essence, a white hole would be the other side of a black hole. Since it draws in matter, it is theorized that a white hole would eject matter. However, this is conjecture at this point in time. Wormholes are thought to act as tunnels that would connect two points in space-time. In other words, wormholes would be like shortcuts to areas in space and time in the universe, or between universes. To simplify matters, a wormhole would be a black hole on one end and a white hole on the other.

Black holes and wormholes are often the subjects of speculation regarding the possibility of time travel. So are black holes the preferred mode of transportation for the future? For now, the idea seems relegated to the cosmos of science fiction movies. However, in some ways, they are stranger than fiction. Inside a black hole, the laws of physics no longer apply. But it seems unlikely that it could be used for time travel, considering that anything entering a it would be destroyed. Still, it does not rule out the possibilities. Information may be preserved in some form, or whatever goes into a massive black hole may emerge elsewhere. Science simply doesn’t have all the answers yet, but the possibilities are certainly intriguing.